it was a new generation with different preoccupations and challenges to deal with in an industry moving away from introspective arthouse to more blockbuster fare. The kind of fare that seems to actively require the energy of 'performers' more than the introspection of 'actors'.

But then you also have the European/French template of introspective arthouse movie stars dabbling in pop music and vice versa through the 1950/60/70's: Dalida, Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg, Sylvie Vartan, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve (!).

Edit. And Gainsbourg might be another contender to Bowie for artistic output and upping the creative output with being director as well?

Still barely believable... I respect him for everything he's done, his music (specially albums like Hunky Dory, Station to Station and Ziggy Stardust) had a huge impact on me while I was a teenager.

Anyone remembers him playing a excentric and obnoxious director Sir Roland Moorecock in HBO Dream On? With taglines like "Well, that was 30 seconds of my life completly wasted" or "It's alright, Roselle. He's nobody", these were the kind of roles that really shows how much he enjoyed acting and how much humour he also had.

Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pmLocation: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city

flyonthewall2983 wrote:

Is Into the Night any good?

I haven't seen it since the 80s, but I remember it as a middling attempt by Landis to be edgier and less comedic, similar to After Hours and Something Wild but nowhere near as good as those films. As far as Landis' films go, it was better than Spies Like Us; worse than everything that came before. The most interesting aspect of the film was the casting of numerous directors in acting roles (Jack Arnold, Don Siegel, etc.) proving that most directors don't do well in front of the camera. I had forgotten Bowie was even in it, so I can't comment on his contribution.

I love Into the Night, it's one of the great unsung city symphonies of film. Landis made it as a lark to distract himself from the Twilight Zone litigation and it's a great "hang out" picture, and looks like it was a lot of fun to make. A film I can understand others not liking due to its looseness and general unnecessary nature, but it's part of what makes it great for me.

Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pmLocation: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city

Cameron Swift wrote:

Roger Ryan wrote:

The most interesting aspect of the film was the casting of numerous directors in acting roles (Jack Arnold, Don Siegel, etc.) proving that most directors don't do well in front of the camera.

It's actually one of Landis's trademarks. Spies Like Us for instance has cameos from Gilliam, Harryhausen, Apted, Raimi and one of the Coens.

That's true...and Spielberg has an amusing part in The Blues Brothers. But Landis really outdid himself with the casting of Into The Night; over twenty of the roles are cast with entertainment industry folks (directors, screenwriters, publicists, musicians) who were not professional actors.

The early morning of his death I ordered it along with other items from Amazon. It sold out and has delayed my order.

It seemed to be sold out everywhere online. I wound up placing a hold at Best Buy (through their website) and got it that day, but the disparity between in-store availability and on-line availability seemed enormous, at least here in NYC.

"It sold the equivalent to 181,000 albums, of which 174,000 were pure album sales."

I'm not sure what that means, but I know I got a free digital download of the album from amazon. Maybe 7,000 other non-payers did too?

The other 7,000 is from the algorithm used to included streaming through Spotify/Apple Music/etc. 1,500 streams is the equivalent of 1 album sale on the newest incarnation of the Billboard 200 album chart.